Tropical dive destination recomendations

[ldevore]

The line has been drawn in the sand! We are going on a dive vacation mid-April.

Now the question is where??? This is where I thought that the fine folks of NWDC might be able help us out. Here are the requirements:

* Requires no more thermal protection than a 3 mm wet suit
* We will be diving from 7 to 10 days, so I'd like some diversity in sites.
* I want to dive, dive, dive, dive... my buddy would like a couple of dives a day, but much more hamock time (holding an adult beverage with an umbrella in it) than me. So I will need to pick up buddies for about half of my dives.
* TV, nightlife, and fancy-schmacy is not important to us. Good food is a plus
* A good deal is always apreciated.

So, let me know if you've been some place great, that you would recomend!

Thanks!

Lauri

[ktb]

I'm sure I won't be the only one to say this but . . . Bonaire was incredible.

* A 3mm is pushing it

* there is quite a bit of diversity (shore, boat, drift, night, macro life, big stuff, etc

* there is nothing to do on the island BUT dive and that's why everyone is there so finding buddies shouldn't be an issue (although drinks can also be found for those done diving for the day)

* food isn't bad although I would recommend staying somewhere you can cook your own part of the time

* it's crazy affordable

My husband and I took our first dive vacation there in October, and I'd be more than happy to bore you with more info during our SI on Saturday. :biggrin:

[PapaZ]

Little Cayman Resort!

[Penopolypants]

Cocoview in Roatan. I went without a buddy and never had an issue finding one at any hour, all I had to do was say "anybody want to go for a dive? A dawn/night/full moon at midnight dive?" Tanks were always at the ready. The bartender (and bar) was very cool. Very affordable. I dove nitrox all week for an additional $100, and other than (very reasonably priced) alcohol and tips the resort fee was all-inclusive. Plenty of hammocks too.

[Grateful Diver]

Bonaire or CocoView will fit the bill. I've been to both places, so I'll give you some compare and contrast notes:

Both places will offer you dive-till-you-drop opportunities.

Bonaire will offer you more diversity in dive sites, since the whole island is basically one big shore dive site. When you land at the airport you rent a pickup truck with tank racks in the back. Depending on your tastes, you never have to get on a boat if you don't want to ... there's about 60 dive sites that are easy access from shore. They offer a diversity of landscape and sea life, depending on whether you go north or south.

CocoView is situated in a lagoon. Both sides of the lagoon are killer walls. There's a 145-foot ship sunk in fairly shallow water in between, as well as an old DC-3 airplane. You can dive these sites anytime you please. Most of the best sites in south Roatan (where CocoView is located) are accessed by boat. When you arrive you are assigned to one of their four boats. It's yours all week. The boat goes out twice a day ... plus at least once a week for a night dive. You can choose ... or not ... to be on it. If you go on the boat and choose to bring an extra tank, they'll drop you on one of the walls on the way in, and you can dive back to the resort. You'll hit one wall after the morning dive and another one after the afternoon dive. Both walls are awesome to dive this way ... and I promise you won't get bored doing it every day for a week.

Night diving on the walls is incredible.

If you choose Bonaire, most resorts only include breakfast. You're on your own for lunch and dinners.

If you choose CocovView, everything's included. You can lock your wallet in the safe once you arrive ... you won't need it again unless you decide to purchase souvenirs.

If you choose Bonaire, you can take your meals whenever you like. If you choose CocoView, meals are all buffet style ... they are always good and plentiful, but you need to be there during set hours for meal time.

In Bonaire you'll have to choose either diving exclusively at the resort or renting a truck. Which you choose will determine what resorts you want to stay at. Of the three I've stayed at ... Captain Don's Habitat, Buddy Dive, and the Plaza, I'd recommend the Plaza. But if having a house reef on your doorstep isn't important, I'd definitely look into Golden Reef Inn.

At CocoView there's no need to leave the resort ... nor much reason to.

In Bonaire if you want a beach you have to stay at the Plaza ... which imported its own sand to create one. If you stay at CocoView, there's a beach right at the resort.

Both places will offer you plentiful amounts of undersea life with healthy reefs and tons of photo opportunities.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Gooch]

Without a doubt- I think Bonaire is the best bang for the buck diving-wise. You can dive as much as you want and nitrox is usually free at most places. Make sure you get a package with the truck rental and free nitrox. There are a lot of places to stay but we stayed at the Sand Dollar and our friends were right next door at the Den Laman....the Den Laman was newer and closer to the dive shop

If I were to go that way again, I will try Curacao; I hear it is similar to Bonaire in many ways.

We also dove a bit on the "Wild Side" of the island- opposite of the main dive sites and resorts. It had a longer surface swim and is known for more current and rough entries but when we did it we had a great time and saw lots of big (and little) critters.

Roatan is nice- we dove with West End Divers- a real class act for diving down there, IMHO.

We just got back from Maui around Thanksgiving and I would go there again- good diving and a great place.


Good luck! There are too many places to go diving around the world---I don't think I will be able to catch them all

[lizard0924]

+1 for Bonaire. We leave next Friday four our fourth trip there in three years. Ridiculously cheap, especially if you put your own trip together (versus doing one of the big dive resort packages), and you can really maximize your dive time. And if you dislike boat diving (as I do), you can shore dive to your heart's content without ever repeating a site during a week-long stay.

If you want any specific info, drop me a PM.

[Tom Nic]

Bonaire Rocks!!

-Great Diving, good viz, tons of macro critters, night dives with 6' tarponzillas, more big stuff if you're willing to dive on the wild side.

-DIVING FREEDOM! This is by far my favorite... dive as much as you want, whenever you want, your own pace, your own profiles, and I know where you can get unlimited nitrox for a week for $35!

-Out of the Hurricane belt, far enough away to be cool, and though not super easy to get to there are 3 or 4 routes that will work well.

-Best diving for the dollar value around, IMO. You can go super budget or spend a bit more. You can find places with better sea life (South Pacific?) or more night life, but you will pay.

-It is one of the top places in the carribean for DIVING if diving is your priority.

I've been 3 times, and will be heading back in May for 2 weeks. PM me if you want more info - I LOVE to talk Bonaire!

[renoun]

Laurie, I know you sail. I haven't been there but I understand that Bonair is also a destination with windsurfing/kitesurfing infrastructure if that would add any enjoyment to your trip.

[Tom Nic]

Laurie, I know you sail. I haven't been there but I understand that Bonair is also a destination with windsurfing/kitesurfing infrastructure if that would add any enjoyment to your trip.

Absolutely true. Didn't mention it because that's not on my radar.

I've been buzzed by windsurfers whipping by at 30 mph in the shallows in the South. They also have these really cool land surfing wheeled thingy vehicles as well.

[ldevore]

Wow! Bonaire is sounding pretty darned enticing!!!! Sounds like I could get pretty exahused between diving and sailing ....afterall, I can aways rest at my desk when I get back.

....can't wait!

Keep the thoughts coming in, and will take folks up for specifics on PM!

Once again, this boar rocks!

Lauri

[Ken G]

Another for Bonaire. My wife and I loved it.

[lizard0924]

Wow! Bonaire is sounding pretty darned enticing!!!! Sounds like I could get pretty exahused between diving and sailing ....afterall, I can aways rest at my desk when I get back.

Lauri

That is pretty much how Paul and I spend our first week back at our jobs after our dive trips to Bon. Too many dive sites, too little time.

Given all the Bon lovers on this board, we should all just get together and take Lauri out for beers to regale her with stories and tips for traveling to Bonaire.

[Grateful Diver]

Better yet, plan an NWDC Bonaire Extravaganza ... imagine getting a dozen or more NWDC'ers together for a week of diving the reefs of Bonaire ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Tom Nic]

Better yet, plan an NWDC Bonaire Extravaganza ... imagine getting a dozen or more NWDC'ers together for a week of diving the reefs of Bonaire ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

We're going the last two weeks of May. There will be at least 5 NWDC'ers with us, maybe more. It's not a "formal" trip, but we're helping any who want to go. It would be awesome to fill up the Golden Reef Inn with NWDC'ers, (I think it's capacity is 24) and one of the other resorts as well.

One week is simply not enough - each time I've gone it's been tantalizing but not enough. So we're going for two weeks!

I've done 60 different dive sites on Bonaire, only a few marked ones that I haven't hit, and I've hit a bunch of unmarked sites in the South that are just awesome. There is a ton of variety depending on what you want.

Given all the Bon lovers on this board, we should all just get together and take Lauri out for beers to regale her with stories and tips for traveling to Bonaire.

Yeah we ought to pick a night and have a bunch of us get together and talk Bonaire - maybe on a Thursday after a TTN dive!

[Burntchef]

if you are looking to save some cash i would go to key largo. great diving plus there are a dizzying amount of dive options from largo to key west. you couold easily stay a few nights on each key since the drive is short or bunker down in largo and do day trips. i think we stayed with sea dwellers in key largo as a bundle deal. we did go in the tail end of the season so the cattle boats were empty, i think 10 divers where its normaly 25. and the night life is chill and relaxing or you could go to key west and party it up with the tourons ( moron+tourist) .

http://www.seadwellers.com/

we stayed at the holiday inn and if you book thru sea dwellers they hook you up in the back so its a one minute walk to the boat. the hotel was nice, good a/c and bar. plenty of places to eat within a short drive.

[ArcticDiver]

+1 for Key Largo.

It is relatively convenient, has operators for most every taste, has lodging for most every taste, and is relatively cheap. If you have about 6+ divers you can have a boat for the week and so whatever you want from shallow reefs full of life to deep wrecks.

I've been there several times and have always enjoyed it.

[Mongodives]

Okinawa,
Great shore and boat diving. April water should be in the high 70's by then.
SB zen divers has several posts on English speaking dive shops. You can even find local divers willing to take you to their favorite shore dives on SB. Tank rental is kind of a pain if you don't go through one of the English speaking shops if you know someone with access to the Army, Airforce or Marine dive shops its only a couple of bucks for air and 5-7 bucks for nitrox.
Food and lodging depending on how fancy and picky you are will be no more expensive than going to Hawaii for the same time.
I would recommend, if you do choose Okinaw, the Chatan area. The area has several restaurants, stores, dive shops and hotels that are used to Americans and there are several dive sites within walking distance of the hotels there.

[scottsax]

I love Bonaire. I've been twice, and would (and probably will) go again in a heartbeat!

It's funny-last time I was there was with my NWDC buddy Sheri, and all we could talk about was how awesome it would be to do the trip with enough NWDC folks to fill our own boats. If anybody wants to get together to talk about Bonaire, or plan a Bonaire trip, I'm in!

[lizard0924]

I love Bonaire. I've been twice, and would (and probably will) go again in a heartbeat!

It's funny-last time I was there was with my NWDC buddy Sheri, and all we could talk about was how awesome it would be to do the trip with enough NWDC folks to fill our own boats. If anybody wants to get together to talk about Bonaire, or plan a Bonaire trip, I'm in!

If somebody puts something together, Paul and I will be there, too!

[Tom Nic]

If somebody puts something together, Paul and I will be there, too!

IIf anybody wants to get together to talk about Bonaire, or plan a Bonaire trip, I'm in!

If you're interested in going in late PM shoot me a PM!